I was staying in Basingstoke on the Friday night (as we had football tickets in Southampton for the Saturday, so were stopping off en route to make the journey easier)- handily the city centre Premier Inn is very close to the start of parkrun, so I had a leisurely start and an easy jog over to the start.
Bandstand (part of the route) seen on the way there/ start area as seen from the top of the field
The start and finish are both in a large field, with the course going around the field before exiting the field and doing two loops of the perimeter of the park. I arrived plenty of time ahead of the first timers welcome, so I wandered around the field, looking by the start and finish area for the pop up, but no luck.
There was a big collection of vegan runners, and they were just having their photo taken in the field rather than by a pop up, so everything was pointing towards no pop up!
I looked through their social media as well as searching in the UK parkrun tourists group, and could not see any pop up photos weirdly, so I concluded that they didn’t have one (or didn’t get it out of storage much). I didn’t want to be that awkward tourist asking for it, so I decided to look after, in case they got it out during the event.
First timers sign complete with map/ volunteer station in the start area/ slope of stuff/ main briefing
The first timers welcome sign had a handy map on it, so that was useful to see. There didn’t seem to be a tarpaulin of trust anywhere, but people just left jackets on the slope around the edge of the field (slope of stuff?). There were loads of volunteers and I heard the RD brief them in groups as they arrived (including updating them on the new photography rules where if you take photos as a volunteer you need to send them to the team and then delete them from your own account). The first timers welcome was by the ED and it was very welcoming and clear. Then the main briefing took place (although it got quite noisy at times which was a shame)- a few milestones were celebrated, we were asked to move towards the start and then someone blew a whistle and everyone started running! We were off!
As the whistle blew/ the main field/ wooded area and more of the field
The first part on the field was manageable with the number of participants, but after going to the perimeter path it got much narrower and this was more challenging to keep your own pace (I find it tricky if I am running slightly faster than the person ahead, but not quite enough to overtake them, and I like to have some space ahead of me too). We had been asked to keep left unless overtaking, and I ended up being overtaken by the fastest runners as I finished my first lap and they were heading into the finish funnel. (The marshals were great at asking everyone to keep to their side, however I saw one of the fastest runners properly shoulder barge someone who was a bit ahead of me- this was out of sight of a marshal and was totally uncalled for as the faster guy could have just eased off for a second as that was a particularly narrow part but it widened immediately after). I looked out for the pop up on the way around, in case it was somewhere else. I’d seen something on the floor by the finish funnel, but when I got closer that turned out to be a large bag (possibly that stored the sticks for the funnel). So no luck!
The route- around the football pitch for a lap and a bit, then 2 laps of the bigger park
The route was quite varied, with grass on the field, tarmac paths around the park and also a few hard packed paths, tree roots (sprayed pink) to avoid, and a few up and down sections. The shape of the route made me think of Jersey Farm (with the mini lap followed by 2 bigger laps) and the undulations were probably a little less. One thing I didn’t like was the huge aviary in the park, filled with birds (it’s right next to the band stand). It feels crazy to me that people still feel it’s ok to keep birds in cages and running past it made me feel quite sad, especially as in the wooded section you could hear lots of birdsong from the wild birds.
Anyway, the marshals were particularly encouraging and enthusiastic- I always say “thank you marshal” as I run around, and they would all respond, they were all cheering, when I wished them a happy weekend they all thanked me- it felt like every single marshal absolutely loved being there. Some of the comments; “your smiles are pushing the clouds away”/ “coffee is soon”/ “it’s not a hill it’s an upward flat section”/ “70m left which is as long as the Bayeux embroidery but you’ll be quicker.”
Once finishing I scanned, got my jacket and had another look around the field for the pop up. As I’d not found any images online I was resigned to the fact that they didn’t have one, so decided to make my own photo using the flag (by the start area, so no-one was there to ask) and the timer on my phone.
As I was leaving I put the maps on my phone (as it was a bit complicated) and began following it. As I walked into the car park I noticed the “START” banner- I had found the pop up! This was pure luck as the route was on the other side of the hedge that ran next to the car park, so I would not have seen it from the route.
Finish token/ timer flag photo/ finding the pop up!
There were a few people having photos but basically no queue (but enough people heading to their cars to mean I could ask someone).
Pop up!
Anyway, after that I headed back to the hotel for a shower and porridge before we headed into Southampton. We went to Cafe Thrive for lunch (an all vegan cafe filled with delicious options)- they were very busy and we were lucky to get a table. Then it was on to the football where Saints won 4-1, so a pretty good day for both of us!
Matcha latte/ my burrito, Andy’s burger and our fries and hash browns for lunch/ St Mary’s stadium in the sunshine
Voronoi update:
I was hoping it would join my Reading and Southampton clusters together, but alas there is a teeny gap still!
That was parkrun 468, location 168. I realised I’m on quite a long tourist streak at the moment (20- my highest was 29) however I am pretty sure that will go down a bit next week as I think I will be somewhere local so likely to repeat something from within the current streak. It’s quite good to try and get some tourism in before we enter storm season where cancellations are more common and touring is a bit more nerve wracking!
